Wanted: One Cozy Rug!

Funded Nov 6, 2013

I cannot thank you enough for your generosity, kindness, and willingness to help out a teacher and her twenty-four incredibly deserving students. When I told my students that the project was funded, they literally jumped for joy. Many of my young learners could not believe that you all had been so kind and generous. As you can imagine, this exciting news led to many questions on the part of my five-year-old students: "Why would people give us all that money?" and "How did they know which rug would be the best for us?" and of course, "When will it come, Mrs. Fontaine?" When it did finally come in all its cylindrical, shrink-wrapped glory, the questions changed a bit: "Wow, that is big – where will it fit?" and "When will you finally set this thing up?" My husband and I set up the rug on a Friday afternoon, and I spent the whole weekend picturing how my students would react to seeing the fancy new carpet out of its shrink wrap and rolled out in all its glory. Nothing I could have imagined would have been as amazing as their actual reactions.

On Monday morning, my students trickled in and shrieked in excitement when they saw the rug, unfurled and shiny and new. The words "It smells new!" and "It's so big and beautiful!" were shouted. We danced on the rug. We sang on the rug. Everyone shouted, "Thank you donors!" I may or may not have shed a few happy tears (but shhh, don't tell my kiddos that). The impact that the rug has had on my students, however, has lasted far longer than one day.

Ever since we received the rug, the classroom environment has been changed. Now there is space to move around, there is room to dance and learn and to be a squirmy five-year-old. My students are able to "turn and talk" to one another and engage in dynamic conversations. When I look out at my students when I am leading whole group instruction on our cozy new rug, they are ready and enthusiastic to learn; no longer squished together and unfocused. Our whole group learning area is now a comfortable environment for twenty-four young children to learn.

Thank you for changing the dynamic in my classroom in such an incredibly positive and powerful way. Thank you for your kindness and generosity, and for being the kind of person that I am teaching my students to be.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Fontaine